There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
NINA SIMONEI play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs and good ones.
More Nina Simone Quotes
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I don’t like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.
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My job is not done. I address my songs now to the third world. I am popular all over Asia and Africa and the Middle East, not to speak of South Africa, where I’m trying to go to see Nelson Mandela.
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I do love to sing Jacques Brel songs, intensely. I get terribly excited, just by reading a couple of lines in any one of his songs.
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I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I’ve done my whole life, without thought.
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You’ve got to learn to leave the table When love’s no longer being served”.
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I look forward to doing my own show, not someone else’s. That’s always been my dream.
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Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I’m lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.
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It’s logical that people from bad times will reflect their feelings in their communication. Music is part of the communication. If you lived it, you can do it.
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The worst thing about that kind of prejudice is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.
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Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
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It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules. It’s hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
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I try to swim every damn day I can, and I’ve learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
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It was always Marx, Lenin, and revolution – real girl’s talk.
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What is love but a prelude to sorrow with heartache ahead for your goal.
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Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band’s lead singer, Eric Burdon. “So you’re the honky,” she said, “who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
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If I get an idea I put it on tape and somebody else writes it out.
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You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.
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I have a cultured manner of speaking.
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Birds flying high you know how I feel Sun in the sky you know how I feel Breeze driftin’ on by you know how I feel And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me And I’m feeling good I’m feeling good.
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Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.
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To be young, gifted and black!
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I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don’t think the black people are going to rise at all; I think most of them are going to die.
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When a child is gifted, people try to help that child.
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I don’t like rap music at all. I don’t think it’s music. It’s just a beat and rapping.
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Slavery has never been abolished from America’s way of thinking.
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I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I’ve dreamed.
NINA SIMONE